[2] It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange (it formerly had secondary listings in the Nagoya and Osaka stock exchanges), is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and is one of three Japan Railways Group constituents of the Nikkei 225 index, the others being JR Central and JR West.

JR East was incorporated on 1 April 1987 after being spun off from the government-run Japanese National Railways (JNR).

[12] The spin-off was nominally "privatization", as the company was actually a wholly owned subsidiary of the government-owned JNR Settlement Corporation for several years, and was not completely sold to the public until 2002.

[15] These lines have sections inside the Tokyo suburban area (Japanese: 東京近郊区間) designated by JR East.

JR East aims to reduce its carbon emissions by half, as measured over the period 1990–2030.